Drivers who caused pensioners' deaths face jail

A jury at Guildford Crown Court took less than four hours to convict Adrian Kuti, 42, and Richard Cherry, 31, of three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

They had heard the drivers had been involved in a high-speed game of "cat and mouse", swerving in and out of lanes at speeds estimated at up to 100mph on March 31 last year.

Their fatal game ended when Kuti's powerful Porsche Cayenne ploughed into the car driven by 78-year-old Joan Harp as it emerged from Burgh Wood, on to the A217 at Banstead.

Mrs Harp and her passenger Joan Clover, 83, were killed at the scene while another passenger Kathleen Deards, also 83, was airlifted to hospital. She died four days later from her injuries.

Judge Neil Stewart adjourned sentencing and granted both conditional bail. "Each defendant is facing an inevitable prison sentence," he told the court.

The jury heard how Kuti, a construction worker of Malden Road, Cheam, and Cherry, a quantity surveyor from High Street, Carshalton, had drove bumper-to-bumper at high speeds in their powerful cars.

Witness Martin Bush told the court he estimated the two cars were travelling at about 100mph: "I heard a bang which sounded like an explosion and I realised the vehicle had collided with something."

Ragjev Azhakesan said he saw the two vehicles playing "cat and mouse at a dangerous speed."

Both drivers denied they were racing, although Kuti told the jury he admitted to police he had a "bit of a boot" away from the traffic lights at Tattenham Way He said he saw the car coming out from the side road into his path and he swerved to avoid it. He was travelling at between 50 and 55mph.

"There was a bang and the air bags went off and I just seemed to slide before it came to a rest," he said.

Cherry said the first time he saw the Porsche was immediately prior to the crash and that he pulled into the other lane to let it pass and became aware of a car emerging from the side road.